Customers that were misled by Volkswagen regarding their vehicle's actual fuel economy are now seeking up to $26 million to cover attorney's fees and other costs.
According to newly released court documents, lawyers of the owners of around 98,000 Volkswagen vehicles are apparently asking a US Judge to demand payment from the German automaker.
Late last week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) demanded that Volkswagen forfeit its greenhouse gas emissions credits following its investigation in the company's emissions practices. Volkswagen initially reasoned that the software that was installed on its vehicles had wrongly overstated its car's real-world gas consumption performance.
Following the investigation, Volkswagen announced that it has agreed to pay up to $95 million as a court settlement involving its wrongly labeled vehicles. The fine is meant to be distributed as reimbursement to the company's 98,000 customers.
People who bought the wrongly labeled vehicles are eligible to receive lump-sum payments that range from $518.40 to $2,332.80 depending on the type of vehicle they have.
The requested $26 million by the victim's lawyers is separate to the $95 million that Volkswagen has already agreed to pay. According to court documents, the $26 million will include $23.9 million in attorney's fees and $2.1 million in other expenses incurred during the lengthy litigation.
The investigation into Volkswagen's mislabeling of vehicle fuel economy figures lasted for around 15 months before the settlement was reached. The investigation was launched by the EPA and the California Air Resource Board after a mandate to control the excess emissions of all vehicles in the United States.
The alleged problematic software that reported the false fuel consumption figures were installed on around 1 million vehicles. This included various brands under Volkswagen, namely 2013 to 2017 models of Audi, Porsche, Audi, and VW vehicles.
Some of the particular models that will be eligible for compensation include Volkswagen's Audi A8, Bentley Continental GT, VW Touareg, and Porsche Cayenne models.
The software was designed to automatically shift gears to optimize fuel economy and greenhouse emissions. However, the system apparently sometimes does not work under normal driving conditions. This resulted in some vehicles getting false fuel economy readings, with a majority getting a variance of up to 3.5 percent.
Apart from the mislabeled fuel consumption ratings, the EPA also revealed that Volkswagen had knowingly understated its greenhouse gas emissions by around 220,000 metric tons. Due to the violation, the EPA will be forfeiting the company's emission credits under the federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy Program.
